U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein Cosponsors School Modernization Bill
- Measure would provide $1.3 billion to replace aging infrastructure -
February 29, 2000

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today cosponsored new legislation, introduced by Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), which provides $1.3 billion annually to help schools replace aging infrastructure. The following is Senator Feinstein’s statement in support of the Public School Act of 2000:

“Public schools throughout California and the nation are crumbling. In my home state alone, over 60 percent of our schools are more than 40 years old, while 87 percent of the schools need to upgrade and repair deteriorating buildings. Roofs are leaking, pipes are bursting and our classrooms cannot accommodate the electrical and other technological equipment needed to teach our students computer skills.

Throughout the United States, more than one-third of our nation’s 110,000 schools were built before World War II and more than $112 billion is needed for construction and repairs at 80,000 of them, according to the General Accounting Office.

The Public School Act of 2000 is urgently needed and I am glad to join Senator Tom Harkin as a cosponsor. This act authorizes $1.3 billion annually for grants and loans to replace aging infrastructure. The funds will help leverage $7 billion in funding for 8,300 emergency renovation and repair projects.

Ten percent of the funds would be set aside for grants for school districts with greater than 25 percent of children from low-income families. The remaining 90 percent would be available for grants or loans to high need school districts, through a competitive process.

In this time of unprecedented prosperity, the federal government has a responsibility to help ensure that all our public schools meet the most basic needs of students and teachers. California faces a number of severe challenges in this regard. More than $16.5 billion is needed for maintenance, repair and modernization of the state’s schools and another $5.8 billion for new school construction, according to the State Department of Education.

If we are to demand more from teachers and students -- as I believe we must -- then it is also critical that we provide them adequate facilities in which teachers can instruct and students can learn. It is my hope that we can come together in the spirit of bipartisanship to pass this legislation and help our nation’s schools pay for needed renovations.”